


A Wash of Color

by TMW



Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Character Turned Into a Ghost, M/M, Mythology References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-23
Updated: 2015-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-31 21:47:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3994030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TMW/pseuds/TMW
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Nick O'Flaherty discovers a mysterious dancer in an otherwise abandoned room of the studio he works for, he never expected it to be a ghost. He also never expected to fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Wash of Color

**Author's Note:**

> This was done in several parts on Tumblr under the Ghost Dancer AU tag. Here it is in its entirety.

The building was one that’d been somewhat abandoned by time, left to its own chaotic devices, the age of its walls showed in the spiderweb cracks, the tarnished lighting fixtures, the stairwells worn with the grooves of hundreds of feet over the many decades.

The owners kept the aging dance studio open—an elderly couple who’d met and married in the ballet somewhere in Europe. Or so the story went. The dance classes kept up their schedule even as the numbers dwindled and the ancient halls filled with silence.

Nick O’Flaherty had worked as the studio’s maintenance man since he was of legal age to work…and even then, he’d done odd jobs for at least a year before that in exchange for money under the table. At first, it was to watch the pretty dancers, and then it was to flirt with the pretty dancers, maybe even date a few as his hormones hit fast and hard. Now, as he roamed the halls that felt more like a second home than anything else, it was to relive the memories of beauty and music and the evolution of dance styles these exposed brick walls had seen.

He’d finished his walkthrough, making mental notes of larger projects to tackle: peeling paint, molding that needed replacing, checking the building wiring, and the ilk. He paused as he heard movement in one of the older rooms – his favorite room, to be quite honest.

The checkerboard floor and exposed brick gave the room an antiquated feel. The tall, narrow doors with their lead glass and need of fresh paint only contributed to the vintage atmosphere. He’d watched many dance recitals in that room. He’d even pretended he was a dancer on several occasions when no one was around to see him fumble over the steps or make a fool of himself.

He eased the door open and blinked in surprise at the young man dancing across the floor. No music, but his steps were perfect. He was barefoot and dressed in black slacks, black suspenders, and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His dark blond hair was messy and his face handsome, but Nick couldn’t tell any specific features from this distance.

The man moved fluidly, his steps precise, his arms in perfect follow-through with the movements. His spine stayed perfectly straight as he glided across the floor to a rhythm only he could hear but Nick felt through the purpose of the man’s movements. A soft smile graced his face, the entire picture pulling Nick further into the room.

Nick toed off his shoes—he had an odd superstition about walking on the dance floors with his shoes, no matter how old the floors were or how many other people didn’t share that idea.

The man had moved closer in his movements and his gaze flicked to Nick’s, but he didn’t falter. His feet moved in a tango pattern Nick easily recognized and the urge to _just dance_ filled Nick from his toes to his fingers to the tingles across his scalp. Nick stepped into the man’s space without hesitation, sliding one hand around the man’s waist and falling perfectly into step with him. The man’s hand slid up Nick’s arm to rest just behind his shoulder, his other arm dropping parallel to his side.

And they danced.

And time stopped

And there was no music.

But they danced.

The man bowed his head, his temple brushing Nick’s jaw. Nick turned his head slightly so his jaw rested against the man’s hair, breathing in the faint scent of him, wondering what music he heard, who he was, why he was here.

All too soon, they reached an end by some sort of mutual understanding. The man smiled softly at him, his oddly beautiful eyes sweeping over Nick’s face.

He said nothing and Nick didn’t want to spoil the moment by breaking this charged silence between them. He merely nodded, smiled, and headed back to his shoes. When he turned around, the man was gone.

They continued in kind for the following week. Same time. No words. No music. The mysterious man would show up in the same room, dancing the same tango steps over and over again. Every time, when Nick turned around from fetching his shoes, the man was gone. He didn’t want to question it. He didn’t want to do anything to break…whatever this was.

It was a busy Thursday afternoon. Well, busy in the sense that the owners were around, as was a regular tango class for adults. Nick hoped to see his mysterious dance partner inside, but he failed to spot the messy hair or changeable eyes. Disappointment welled in him for a brief moment but he batted it away, content to keep the man to himself for a few nights longer.

Eventually Nick would work up the courage to ask the man’s name. He normally wasn’t so shy, but there was something that kept his mouth shut the moments they danced.

He leaned in the doorway and watched the tango class move around a space a little too small for them, but they seemed happy. The music ricocheted off the ancient walls, filling the vaulted ceilings, and soaked into Nick’s bones as he watched.

“Why don’t you ever join them?”

Nick smiled at the studio owner as she slid her hand into the crook of his elbow. “I’m all left feet, Mara.”

Mara Grady smiled up at him, her eyes sparkling. “That’s a damn lie, Nicholas.” She patted his arm. “It’s okay. But you would be quite beautiful out there.”

Nick flushed under her praise and returned to watching the dancers. “Why don’t you use the bigger hall upstairs for this? The checkered room?”

Mara clucked her tongue and shook her head. “I’ve suggested it but several people still believe in that silly story about it being haunted.”

Nick blinked at her. “Haunted?”

Mara hummed. “Oh, let’s see if I remember it right. Back in the thirties, I think it was, a young man was killed up there when the studio was broken into, poor thing. Shot twice in the chest over a bit of money from the till and his shoes. It was before we owned it and we didn’t find out about the murder until after Earl and I bought the place.”

Nick’s body went cold. “What did he look like?”

Mara smiled at him. “Oh, I forgot, you like these stories. I’m sure it’s online in the newspaper archives.” She dropped her hand and squeezed his shoulder as the dance instructor beckoned her over to speak to the class.

Nick waited about four seconds before he hurried away from the room, his mind churning. No way. It was a stupid coincidence and a silly story. Someone playing a trick on him or on the studio as a whole. Some guy perpetuating a story about a ghost.

But the twist in his chest didn’t help sell the excuses.

Nick’s knee bounced as he waited for the studio’s ancient computer to boot up. Ten minutes later he was finally paging through online newspaper archives, his heart falling to his toes when a familiar face peered out at him from a headline from 1935.

_Dance Prodigy Brutally Murdered_

Nick scanned the article. The story was just as Mara told it. Local hoodlums looking for money and valuables interrupted a young man dancing late at night alone. Apparently, he’d tried to stop them and received bullets in return. They’d never caught the murderers.

Nick sat back in the chair, breathing hard, his palms sweaty and his stomach churning. He scrolled back up to the grainy photograph. It was poor quality and in black and white, but Nick could envision the bright blue-green of the man’s changeable eyes.

He glanced at the caption, _Kelly Abbott, 32._

“Kelly,” he whispered.

He didn’t say the name again until that night when he approached the checkered room with trepidation. He paused in the doorway, watching the man move around the room with the same beautiful fluidity. Knowing the truth now made Nick’s chest ache and the corners of his eyes prickle.

“Kelly,” he whispered hoarsely.

Kelly paused and turned slowly, his movements still that of a trained dancer taken far too young. A brilliant smile graced his face as his eyes met Nick’s.

“You’re Kelly Abbott,” Nick said quietly as he walked into the room barefoot.

Kelly tilted his head to the side, his smile never faltering.

“And you’re a ghost.”

A simple nod.

“I’m so sorry,” Nick whispered. “I just learned today.”

Kelly’s smile turned a little sad but he held out a hand and pulled Nick into his space. His hand slid up Nick’s arm and rested behind his shoulder.

_Dance with me tonight_ , his changeable eyes seemed to say.

Nick had no words.

So they danced.

It wasn’t like in the movies where blood suddenly appeared on Kelly’s chest when Nick knew the truth. Kelly didn’t waver and disappear in a puff of glittery smoke. Nick was simply left with an ache his chest he couldn’t quite explain and an overwhelming sadness that such a talented, beautiful man was taken so early in his life.

Then again, given the year and the world events Kelly would have faced in the coming decade, a small part of Nick was glad Kelly missed war because the man probably would have traded his dance skills for gun skills. The thought of battle stripping away this young man’s innocence and beauty made Nick’s insides twist.

Kelly paused, his head tilted to one side and his gentle smile on his face. His changeable eyes filled with questions.

“Can you speak?” Nick asked quietly.

Kelly rolled his lips inward and shook his head, confusion creating lines between his brows.

On impulse, Nick reached out and smoothed away those lines. “It’s okay. It’s not a big deal. Maybe…we can figure out why.”

Kelly smiled and moved away, falling into his natural dance rhythms to some internal orchestra. Nick watched, frowning as a sort of indignant sense of unfairness welled up in his chest. Why was Kelly even _here_?

Kelly passed by him, holding a hand out with his soft smile on his face. Nick slid his palm into Kelly’s and stepped into his space, falling into sync with him immediately. He tried not to think of the oddity of the situation or how it would look to someone who couldn’t see Kelly.

“I wish you could speak,” Nick said softly. “These conversations feel a little one-sided.”

Kelly’s response was to slide his hand up Nick’s shoulder to rest at the base of Nick’s neck as their dance morphed into something slower and more intimate. Kelly looked up at him, his eyes sweeping over Nick’s face.

Nick swallowed, his heart jumping around his ribcage in twice the rhythm of their footsteps. “Why are you here?”

Kelly’s fingertips brushed up Nick’s neck and to his jaw as if Kelly were blind and this was his way of mapping Nick’s face. His eyes followed his fingers up over Nick’s cheekbone.

“How do I help you?” Nick asked, a quiet tinge of desperation creeping into his voice. His arm tightened around Kelly’s waist when Kelly’s fingertips brushed over Nick’s lips.

Nick closed his eyes against the swirl of emotion barreling through his system. He didn’t know what was happening or why or even what to do about it. Nothing made sense. The entire situation made him feel inside-out, every nerve in his body raw and exposed to this ghost’s touch.

“How are we able to touch?” he whispered almost desperately as his eyes fluttered open. “I don’t understand any of this.”

They’d stopped dancing, their arms wrapped around each other in the middle of a scuffed and warped checkered floor. Kelly’s eyes darted over Nick’s face as if he was trying to ask something or make a decision. After a long moment, he pressed his lips to Nick’s.

There was no warmth, no taste, just light pressure and the firmness of the man in his arms, but Nick kissed him back, forcing his brain to shut up for this moment. To not question _how_ he was kissing a ghost or _why_ , but to simply give into it and not think.

Kelly pulled away, his eyes wide. His lips parted like he might finally speak then he smiled softly, almost shyly, and looked away. He pulled out of Nick’s arms and moved away, his movements fluid and light. Nick watched, stunned and unable to conjure anything remotely resembling a response. His lips tingled, his arms fell heavy to his sides, his stomach did a violent tango with his heart.

Kelly’s hands moved as though he pulled an imaginary hat off his head and he fell into the rhythms of a hat routine, spinning around, moving his arms as if he were rolling a hat up his arms and back onto his head.

“Kelly,” Nick said.

Kelly spun on the ball of one foot and faced him, the same easy smile on his face.

“I’m going to help you somehow. I promise.”

The smile widened.

==

“It’s 2014 now. You missed a few wars, new cars, everything getting smaller, fewer trees.” Nick sat on the floor as he picked at his dinner, his back resting against the cold brick. “More ice cream flavors.”

Kelly sat facing him, intently watching and listening.

Nick smiled self-consciously. “You probably don’t care since you can’t really leave this room.”

Kelly shrugged.

“I should probably shut up.”

Kelly shook his head fervently and pointed at Nick’s mouth. He smiled widely and leaned forward as if interested.

Nick arched an eyebrow. “You like listening to me talk?”

Another nod.

Nick blushed, his face heating. He ducked his head and blew out an unsteady breath. “I’m probably the only person who’s talked to you in a while. That’s all it is.”

Kelly’s fingers slipped under Nick’s chin. Nick glanced at him and blinked in surprise at the frown marring Kelly’s handsome face. Kelly shook his head and jabbed a finger at Nick’s chest.

Nick gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, okay. You like me.”

Kelly smiled and leaned forward, pressing his lips to Nick’s. The pressure flickered and wavered like it sometimes did, as though Kelly was unable to keep up a steady presence or was tiring. Nick pulled back and dragged a fingertip down his ghostly cheek.

“Don’t strain yourself,” he murmured. “Last time, you didn’t come back for three days.”

Kelly nodded and looked away, something close to fear streaking through his eyes. Nick didn’t know what caused it, but oh how he desperately wished he did. It’d been a week ago when Nick rushed up to the checkered room after being held up repairing a broken ballet bar downstairs. Kelly had been so happy to see him that he’d pretty much thrown himself into Nick’s arms and kissed him fiercely. The momentum sent Nick stumbling back to the wall. They hit and kept kissing, the fire building between them, the pressure increasing under Nick’s hands until Kelly vanished like a balloon popping.

It’d terrified Nick. He’d been convinced it was his fault, that he’d done something to send Kelly into some sort of netherworld. After twenty-four hours, Nick sank into a melancholy that not even watching the dancers could pull him from. He still went to the checkered room every evening, hoping Kelly would be dancing.

The room stayed achingly empty.

After forty-eight hours, Nick had realized that sometime over the past three weeks, he’d fallen in love with a ghost.

Which was so utterly messed up in so many ways. The man was from another time, his body long since returned to dust. His spirit had remained for whatever reason, but that’s all it was. That’s all it’d ever be.

At seventy-two hours, Nick had paused outside the closed doors of the old dance room and stared at the tarnished knob while eternal seconds slipped off the clock and died at his feet. When he turned the knob, the squeak scraped across his bones, the creak of the hinges lodging in his joints like sludge and making it hard for him to even bring himself to look inside.

But there Kelly had stood in the middle of the room, a wide smile on his face, relief in his oddly colored eyes.

It had taken another day before Kelly was _back_ enough for them to touch, for them to kiss and embrace. And Nick never wanted to let him go. He never found out where Kelly went for that time, and Kelly either couldn’t or didn’t want to tell him. All Nick knew was it sent fear through Kelly’s eyes and even his dance steps faltered.

Nick watched as Kelly rose fluidly to his feet and danced lazily away, his movement loose like gentle rain. The more he watched Kelly, the more Nick noticed little things he’d failed to see before that made Kelly more ghost-like.

Other than his eyes, the rest of Kelly was muted color-wise. Like a photograph sat out in the sun too long and a little faded. Not quite black and white or sepia-toned, but somewhere in that general family. He also glowed faintly, but Nick hadn’t noticed that until one night when Kelly rested his hand on Nick’s leg while Nick told him stories. It was a gentle glow, barely there unless you were looking for it. More of a brightness around the edges of his person.

Nick pulled his phone from his pocket and thumbed through his contacts. He needed answers—he’d put it off long enough—and there were two people who’d believe him, or at least humor him. Digger’s phone went to voice mail. He left a quick message about having a question about something strange and scrolled through his contacts again.

“Hey, O. How’re my folks?”

Nick smiled at the lazy drawl of his best friend, Ty Grady. “They’re good. Running the studio like dictators.”

Ty chuckled, the sound never failing to smooth out the rough edges of Nick’s soul. They’d known each other since boyhood. Ty danced at his parents’ studio. Nick changed light bulbs. They’d flirted and shared a few awkward kisses in shadowed corners, but it’d never taken off into anything more than that.

“Hey, when you were here, did you ever hear the story about the dancer haunting the tango room on the third floor?” Nick asked as he watched Kelly move.

Ty made a thoughtful noise. “Yeah, I think so. Kid that was shot in the thirties?”

“That’s the one.”

“Why, did you see him?”

“I’m looking at him right now.”

“Really?” Ty asked, surprise lacing his tone. “I thought it was just a story. What’s he doing? What’s he like?”

And that was one of the things Nick loved about Ty so much, his unwavering belief in the supernatural and the fact that he would believe Nick saw an eighty-year-old ghost.

“Dancing. That’s all he does. He dances.”

“You’re watching him right now, aren’t you?”

“How’d you know?”

Ty laughed quietly. “You get this…reverent quality when you watch dancers.”

“I’ve danced with him.” Nick wasn’t sure why he was telling Ty this. It felt almost like sharing something intimate and it made his ears heat.

Ty was silent for a long moment. “You did what?”

“Danced. It happened before I found out he was a ghost. It just…happened. He was dancing and he held out his hand. So I took it and we danced.”

“You can touch him?”

“Yeah.”

Kelly paused in front of Nick and frowned at the phone. Nick smiled gently at him.

“He’s confused by the phone.”

“Well, he’s from the thirties,” Ty said, deadpan. “He probably thinks you’re crazy talking to a flat box.”

“Probably.” Nick didn’t look away from Kelly’s mesmerizing eyes. “Hey, why would he still be here after all this time?”

“Usually a ghost sticks around because of unfinished business. His murderer being alive or uncaught. Something he needed or wanted to do that he never got the chance to.”

Nick nodded even though Ty couldn’t see him. “Okay, that helps. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Be careful, Nick. Ghosts are unpredictable. Just because he’s been in that room dancing for the past eighty years doesn’t mean he’ll stay that way.”

Nick’s heart twisted as he watched Kelly spin across the dance floor. “Yeah,” he managed hoarsely. He ended the call before Ty could say anything else.

Figuring out why Kelly was trapped here would free him from this room, from the fearsome place he went when he disappeared. But it would also set him free in that he’d move on. Nick closed his eyes as the pain streaked through his chest.

Pressure on his cheek caused his eyes to flutter open. He met a concerned gaze and forced a smile. “My friend thinks you have unfinished business and that’s why you’re here.”

Kelly shrugged one shoulder in a lazy, almost elegant fashion.

“If we can figure out what that is, we can…set you free. You can leave.” Nick slid a hand around Kelly’s hip and tugged him a little closer.

Kelly frowned and rested a palm on Nick’s chest.

“Yeah, it means you’d move on,” Nick said quietly.

Kelly jerked away, scowling. He shook his head fiercely, his lips forming a soundless _no_. He pointed to himself and then to Nick several times and held his hands out with a questioning expression.

Nick grabbed his hands and pulled him closer again. “You think I want you to go? You think I want to do anything that takes you from me?”

Kelly looked at him with wide eyes.

Nick sighed. “But do you think I’d keep you trapped in this room just because I lo—” He pressed his lips together and looked away.

Kelly grabbed Nick’s face and turned it down again. _Love?_ he mouthed with wide eyes.

Nick swallowed and nodded, unable to speak beyond the fist wrapped around his windpipe.

Kelly smiled softly, his body starting to sway. He wrapped his arms around Nick’s neck, urging him to dance. Nick could have sworn Kelly’s glow grew brighter as they moved. Kelly raised his head and kissed Nick, one hand sliding up into Nick’s hair. It felt like wind moving through his curls rather than the warmth and pressure of fingers, but Nick didn’t care. He kissed Kelly back with all he had, holding him tightly around the waist as if he was afraid that by simply doing this, by declaring his love, Kelly would vanish forever.

Kelly jerked back with a gasp, his eyes wide. “Nick,” he whispered just before he winked out of sight and left Nick standing in the middle of the dance room alone.

==

Kelly startled awake with a gasp. The gasp was more involuntary reflex leftover from when he lived, but his insides still swooped and spun like he’d run a marathon and his long-dead heart felt like it was beating wildly in his chest.

He sat in the corner of the dance room—the very spot he’d hit the wall when two bullets punched into his chest. Every time something happened to make him vanish, he reappeared in the spot where he’d died. Sitting in the corner where he’d slid to the floor, stunned and gasping.

It was a lovely reminder of the worst, and last, moment of his life.

He pulled himself up to a stand, his body shaking and weak like a newborn fawn. His gaze fell on his hand and he groaned.

Everything was gray. The floor, the walls, the doors, himself. He turned around with trepidation and watched the room blur like someone was dragging an wet paintbrush through his surroundings. The walls dripped to the floor. The checkered floor squares wavered and fuzzed around the edges. It was like viewing the world from inside a glass of water.

What held his attention, however, was Nick. Or rather, flashes of Nick. Time wasn’t fluid here. It was more like flickering snapshots that jumped from vignette to vignette. Before he’d met the handsome redhead, he was unable to figure out how much time had passed whenever he came to…wherever this was. Still trapped in the dance room where he’d been shot, but in a different dimension of it. His own personal hell.

Now he counted shirts.

The last time, he only made it to three shirts before he reappeared.

As he stood there and watched Nick flicker in and out of the room in various positions, he counted four…five…six shirts. His stomach dropped.

“You’re getting stronger,” came a familiar voice. The tone sent nails down Kelly’s spine.

Kelly turned around slowly, facing away from Nick. “I spoke to him. I could speak out loud there.”

The man shrugged an elegantly clad shoulder. Kelly didn’t know who he was or what he represented. The man only appeared whenever Kelly came here. Dressed in immaculate suits and walking with a dog-headed cane, he talked and sometimes taunted. He flirted and asked questions. At first, Kelly had tried to make friends with him, thinking he was another soul trapped on this plane. A man of class or station perhaps.

That changed over time as the man’s true character started to seep through the cracks. Kelly still didn’t know exactly who he was or who he worked for, but the man never ceased to send streaks of fear through Kelly’s chest.

Unfortunately, the man had far more answers than Kelly ever would. Mostly, because the man didn’t seem to be trapped in the same room for decades on end.

“Liam, why could I speak to him?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Probably because you’ve fallen in love with a human and that’s tapping into powers you already have. Ghosts can speak, love. It’s your own fault you’ve been a mute for eight decades.”

“Don’t call me that,” Kelly said as he looked at Nick again. Seven shirts. A week. He’d been gone a week. Nick’s face looked haunted and sad. He probably thought Kelly wasn’t coming back. Kelly reached out for him, his fingers brushing through thin air where Nick’s cheek should have been.

“This isn’t a fairytale, darling,” Liam said. “You don’t share true love’s kiss and become a real boy again. You’re dead.”

“I’m aware,” Kelly growled. “You aren’t helping.”

Liam laughed softly. “What if there was a way to become human again?”

Kelly frowned. “Liar.”

“Sometimes. Not this time.” Liam strolled around the room, seemingly disinterested in the melting surroundings. “There is a way.”

Kelly folded his arms. “How?”

Liam smiled slowly. “Oh, pretty boy, it’s not that simple.” He snapped his fingers and the world washed in color.

Kelly collapsed to the floor with a groan. Slamming into reality never ceased to make him feel like he’d been kicked in the sternum. He rolled onto his back and tried to ground himself.

_Human again?_

No, there was no way. Getting his hopes up would lead to horrible things. Kelly was dead and Liam was simply playing on his emotions for a living person. To what end, Kelly had no idea, but he didn’t put it past Liam to have another plan in the works.

“Kelly?” Nick’s voice washed over him.

“Nick?” Kelly gasped, shocked when his voice actually came out of his ghostly body.

Nick’s hands slid over his face and Kelly sucked in a sharp breath at the shocking warmth of them. His eyes flew open to an equally shocked expression on Nick’s face.

“Kelly, you’re bleeding,” Nick said in a stunned voice.

“That’s impossible.” Kelly sat up with a wince.

Nick’s thumb swept over Kelly’s cheek and he held it out for Kelly to see. A smear of crimson stained Nick’s skin.

Kelly gaped and looked at his hands. “Oh god…” As he stared, they flickered in and out of focus like they were having trouble keeping form. They flushed full color of life and bled back to gray before Kelly’s eyes.

“Kelly, what happened? You were gone nine days.” Nick grabbed Kelly’s face and forced his eyes up.

Kelly trembled. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening. Or why it’s happening _now._ ”

Nick lurched forward and kissed him. Kissed him _hard._ Kissed him as if Kelly would vanish again at any second. Kelly groaned and wrapped his arms around Nick’s neck, feeling heat and warmth under Nick’s skin. They fell to the floor, Kelly’s head thudding to the checkered floor. A dull ache spread through the back of his skull as he clawed at Nick’s shirt in an effort to get at his skin.

“Your voice,” Nick said between kisses. “You’re here.”

“I love you,” Kelly said suddenly, afraid everything would vanish in the next second. He needed to say it out loud, not just mouth it or hope Nick figured it out through his kisses.

Nick smiled and leaned forward to kiss him again.

And passed directly through Kelly and hit the floor face-first with a grunt. Kelly shouted in surprise and scrambled backward, gasping when his hand sank through the floor for a brief moment.

“What’s going on?” Nick pulled himself and stared at Kelly.

Kelly held up his hands, staring through their wavering form at Nick’s face.

“This was a taste,” Liam’s voice purred at Kelly’s ear. “A taste of what you could have, love. And now you have nothing.”

==

Nick hesitated before grasping the knob of the checkered dance room. His heart tattooed the insides of his ribs and his lungs couldn’t get enough air. His arms and fingers physically ached with the need to touch Kelly and wasn’t _that_ the most fucked up thing of this entire scenario? Not that he’d seen a ghost. Not that he’d fallen in love with a ghost. Not that his best friend was standing next to him waiting to see said ghost.

But that Nick’s fingers tingled with the need to trace Kelly’s cheek and run a thumb over his lower lip. That his palms felt ridiculous and empty without the curve of Kelly’s jaw or the faint outline of Kelly’s hip in them.

“Nick,” Ty said softly. “We can do this later.”

Nick shook his head. “Let’s see if you can see him.” He pushed open the door, his heart fluttering when he saw Kelly standing in the middle of the room.

Not dancing.

They’d discovered it took all of Kelly’s energy to remain above the floor. He’d slid through halfway after he’d come back and Nick had raced downstairs to see if legs were dangling through the ceiling in the ballet room but there’d been nothing.

Wherever Kelly would go when he slipped through the floor was definitely not the lower level.

“Kels,” Nick breathed softly.

_Nick_ , he mouthed back. Voiceless and nearly transparent, Kelly looked defeated and trapped. Forever imprisoned in the room where he died, unable to speak to or touch Nick.

Unable to dance for all the effort it took to stay _here._

They’d tried everything they could think of to bring Kelly back to at least the same situation they’d been in. But no matter how many times Nick told him he loved him. No matter how many times Kelly mouthed it back, nothing happened.

Guilt streaked through Nick at the sight. If he’d never come up here. If he’d ignored Kelly dancing in this room.

_If If If_

“Wow,” Ty’s hushed exclamation brought him back and Nick glanced over to see Ty staring wide-eyed at Kelly. “The stories were true.”

“You never saw him before now?”

Ty shook his head. “Never. And I was up here all the time. This was my favorite room.”

Nick frowned and looked at Kelly, who’d tilted his head quizzically at Ty. “This is my friend Ty. I’m hoping maybe he has a few ideas.”

Ty smiled gently at Kelly. “Hey, it’s nice to meet you.”

Kelly gave him a thin smile in return.

Out of halfhearted hope, Nick reached for Kelly’s face. Kelly closed his eyes and turned away when Nick’s fingers went through his jaw. It was like trying to catch a precise gust of wind.

Nick dropped his hand.

Ty squeezed Nick’s shoulder and sat on the floor. “Is it easier to stay here if you sit?”

Kelly shrugged and folded down to a sit in one fluid motion.

Nick sat next to him.

“I did some research into what happened to you,” Ty started. “They never caught the guys, but…it was eighty years ago. They were older than you, right?”

Kelly nodded.

“Yeah, my money is they’re long since dead. If they even made it to old age, they passed a decade or two ago. So you’re not here because your murderer is still walking around.” Ty chewed on his lower lip. “Was there anything you were trying to do before you died? Some sort of goal? Like something you would’ve been heartbroken to never complete?”

_Dance_ , Kelly mouthed. He shrugged and waved a hand weakly at the room.

Ty nodded and leaned forward. “Yeah, but was there a specific thing you were dancing toward? Like a school or … a recital? Or…” He blew out a breath and raised his eyebrows.

Kelly shook his head. _I love dance_ , he mouthed and then stared at the floor.

Nick’s heart broke. If ghosts could cry, he’d put money on Kelly nearing that point now.

Ty frowned and rubbed his lower lip. “Okay, this Liam guy you see in the other place you go. Is there anything unique about him?”

Kelly looked up at the ceiling, lines between his brows as he thought. He mouthed a word but Nick didn’t quite make it out.

“What was that?” Nick asked, his voice coming out rough.

Kelly licked his lips and brought up a hand, clumsily fingerspelling a word using sign language.

Ty smiled. “You taught him signs?”

Nick nodded. “Yeah and a few random words. It helps until we figure this out.”

_D-O-G-C-A-N-E_

“Dog cane? Like walking cane?” Nick asked.

Kelly nodded.

“Like the head of the cane is a dog?” Ty’s eyes gleamed, and Nick knew that look way too well.

“What’re you thinking?” Nick asked.

“Could it have been a jackal? Long, pointed snout? Sharp ears?” Ty asked Kelly.

Kelly nodded and tapped his nose.

“A jackal’s head,” Ty grinned triumphantly at Nick.

Nick raised an eyebrow and shrugged, completely confused. He nearly grabbed Kelly’s hand for comfort but remembered at the last second.

Ty rolled his eyes. “Right, I was the mythology nut. You were more into history. Anubis was the jackal-headed god of the Egyptian underworld.”

Nick stared at him. “You’re saying Kelly is being tormented by the Egyptian god of death?”

“Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. You’re in love with a ghost,” Ty scoffed. “Look, it’s just the first thing that popped into my head. I mean this guy can go anywhere and seems like he knows a ton of shit, right?”

Kelly nodded.

“So why wouldn’t he be Death? Or someone as high up like a Grim Reaper or something.”

“You’ve been watching too much _Supernatural_.” Nick leaned back on his palms and stared at the ceiling.

Ty huffed. “You wanted ideas. I came with ideas.”

“I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…” Nick blew out a breath. “What do we do with that? It isn’t unsolved business or his murderer still around. So why is Kelly here? And why is this all happening to him now?”

Ty lifted a shoulder. “You came along. You two fell in love. Someone…this Liam guy…didn’t like that. He has the power to toy with ghosts fairly easily. You said Kelly was alive for almost a minute. That’s someone with a _lot_ of power to throw around.”

Nick swallowed and looked over at Kelly, who was watching Ty with a thoughtful expression. Kelly glanced at Nick and gave him a shrug that seemed to say, _I have no better ideas_.

Kelly pulled himself to his feet with a look of intense concentration. His feet sank into the floor slightly as if he was standing in checkered puddles.

“Kelly, what are you doing?” Nick stood quickly.

Kelly rolled his shoulders back and fluttered his fingers over Nick’s cheek. Nothing. Not even a whisper of wind or the tickle of pressure. Kelly smiled at him then walked slowly to the far corner of the room.

_Liam_ , he mouthed.

“What is he doing?” Ty asked in alarm.

“Calling Liam.” Nick started toward Kelly. “Kelly, don’t. Please.”

But Kelly wasn’t paying attention. He was staring over Nick’s shoulder with a wide-eyed expression.

Nick and Ty turned around.

“Oh shit,” Ty breathed.

==

Kelly didn’t know what he’d been expecting when he called for Liam. The room to turn gray. Him to be jerked into the in-between world where he usually met Liam.

He absolutely did _not_ expect Liam to appear here with Nick and Ty present.

Terror sliced through him and splintered his rib cage as he tried to walk across the room to Liam and put himself between Liam and Nick.

Not that it would do much.

Kelly was little more than air at the moment. And every step took all his concentration not to fall through the floor and into who knows where.

Liam smiled at Nick, all sharp teeth and lips stretched into a wolfish grin. His cane glinted in the light. His suit immaculate as always.

“Hello, darling,” Liam purred at Nick. “Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”

“Are you Liam?” Nick asked in a low voice.

“I am,” Liam lifted his chin slightly.

_Nick no!_ Kelly tried to shout but, as usual, nothing came out and Nick’s back was to him. With a silent sob of frustration, he pushed forward, determined to make it to Nick’s line of sight. He knew that look on Liam’s face.

Liam was out for blood.

“What do you want with Kelly?” Nick growled. His hands curled into fists as if he was actually considering decking Death in the chin.

Another step.

Another step.

This was harder than before.

Liam caught Kelly’s eye and his smile widened. “A bit of sport, really. He’s so much fun to play with. The fact that you’ve been added to the game is simply bonus.”

“He’s not your toy.”

“Oh, but my dear boy, he is. You see, when someone dies, they either go back into the giant bingo ball for another go round when their number comes up, or they stay here.” Liam leaned on his cane. “Any souls who stay here are mine. Mine to do with what I wish, when I wish it, as I please. And you, my darling, frail speck of a human, have no say in the matter.”

“You told him he could be alive again,” Nick said.

Kelly strained against whatever force Liam was pushing against him. He clawed at the air in front of him, desperate to grab Nick and stand in front of him to protect him. _Nick!_ he kept shouting over and over and over. If he had a voice, it would be scraped raw by this point.

“I did,” Liam said smoothly.

“Was it true?” Nick asked.

Liam’s smile grew. “It was.”

“How?” Ty asked quickly. “What’s the price?”

“Price?” Liam raised his eyebrows at Ty.

“There’s always a price.”

Liam shrugged one shoulder elegantly. “I suppose you’re right.”

“So what is it?” Nick took a step forward as the words hissed out of his mouth.

Liam blinked out of sight and appeared directly in front of Nick, his smile gone and his sharp eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me, _boy_? I’m older than the universe. I am Death. I can take your soul any time I wish. Show me some respect.”

Nick snorted, not moving an inch. “Why? You aren’t showing Kelly any. As far as I’ve seen, you don’t deserve it.”

Liam glanced over Nick’s shoulder at Kelly. “You picked a real spitfire, love.”

Nick turned slightly. Kelly caught his eye and shook his head fiercely. _Please. No._

Nick gave him a thin smile. His hand raised slightly, his middle and ring finger tucking into his palm, leaving his thumb, index, and pinkie extended.

Kelly stared at him, anguished. Everything inside of him writhed in terror and apprehension. _I love you too_ , he mouthed.

“How sweet,” Liam said in a bored tone. “So I’m to understand you want Kelly alive? With a voice? This age?”

“Yes,” Nick said.

“And what would you give up for that?” Liam strolled away, seeming perfectly at ease.

_No_ , Kelly’s lips formed the word but it wouldn’t have been more than a whisper of pure anguish as Nick squared his shoulders.

“Anything.”

“What if it was a life for a life? The life of a stranger? A child? Your friend here? His mother? Your own?” Liam strolled in a circle like a shark circling vulnerable prey.

“No deal,” Ty said suddenly.

“Ty—“ Nick grabbed his arm.

Ty pulled out of it and put his hands on Nick’s face, his eyes wide with understanding. “I get it, man, but this isn’t the way. We can figure something else out. Don’t play this monster’s game.” He turned back to Liam before Nick could respond. “No deal. Leave.”

Liam met Ty’s gaze evenly. The corner of his mouth curled up in a smirk before he winked out of sight.

Nick fell to his knees with a thud, a choked sob escaping his throat. “Why? Tyler!”

Ty knelt next to him. “No one is going to die for this. Not you, not me, not my parents, not some random stranger. We’ll find a way, Irish. I promise, we’ll find a way to get your Kelly back.”

_Your Kelly_.

Kelly sank to the floor and slid his hands through his hair. He rested his forehead on his kneecaps and squeezed his eyes shut against tears that would never come, breathing out soundless cries in a checkered room.

==

_LIAM_ , Kelly screamed into the room, no sound or air exiting his mouth. Just an awful pressure in his chest where letters stored themselves and fell into patterns of words like _Nick_ and _Love_.

“You rang?” Liam’s voice purred through the room.

Kelly spun in a circle, but couldn’t catch sight of his nemesis. He’d been seething in desperate anger. Ty had dragged Nick from the room, claiming they needed to do research and all Kelly could do was watch helplessly. Unable to kiss away the glistening tear tracks from Nick’s cheeks or tell him he loved him. Unable to touch him or hold him or tell him it would be okay.

Because he was a fucking _ghost_.

He was a goddamn dead man haunting a room in a fucking dance hall and he was _furious_ about it.

The pressure in his chest grew, sending sharp stabs down his arms but he ignored them, narrowing his eyes at the room.

_LIAM_ , the word screamed through his mind, scraping the insides of his brain like nails on a chalkboard and rolling from his ethereal lips like angry poison.

“Angry, are we? Ferocity pushing at its confines?” Liam’s voice danced around the room. “You forgot your temper when you died, love. Dance was all you remembered. Do you remember anything before then? The fights you got into. The bruises you gave and sustained. The threats to find a new hobby before you got yourself killed.”

Kelly glowered at the room, refusing to let Liam’s voice needle at his memories, pricking at long-forgotten corners and pulling washed out images to the forefront of his mind. He hadn’t misplaced any memories of his former life. No, he’d simply chosen to focus on the love of dance he’d found.

Which led him to Nick.

_Stop playing_ , he mouthed.

“Oh but it’s fun,” Liam said as he appeared in the middle of the room.

Kelly’s hands turned into fists that he wanted to drive into Liam’s smug face if he knew he wouldn’t fly right through the man. Although, punching Death might be a bad decision.

Liam tilted his head as if he knew Kelly’s desires anyway. “You’re angry with me.”

Kelly stared at him. The pressure in his chest grew and morphed into a buzzing that spread through his entire body. He wanted to break something. He wanted to break out of his form and into one who could _be with Nick_.

“Is that your deepest desire, love? To be with your human? To be flesh again? You could have so much more in this form if you learned to control it.”

_It’s been eighty years_.

“You were boring for most of it. Dancing. Walking circles in this room. Never tried to leave. Never tried to even haunt the studio. You dancing with your gentlemen was the first life…” Liam paused to laugh at his little joke, “I’d seen out of you in decades.”

_What do you want from me?_

Liam snorted softly. “You have nothing to give me. I already hold your eternity in my hand. You’re a mere playtoy and nothing more.”

_Bullshit_.

“Such language.” Liam smiled.

Kelly seethed, pressure pushing through his system and building in his fingers. Anger rolled under his skin. This… _thing_ was doing nothing more than batting him around like a cat with a toy. At least before, he and Nick could touch. He could deal with being mute if it meant he could touch Nick.

Now, because of this _creature_ who _claimed_ to be death, Kelly had been stripped of everything that meant anything to him.

The pressure rolled up the back of his neck and slithered over his scalp, prickling his hair and throbbing behind his eyes. He rolled his neck to crack some of the tension out, but all it did was build more, filling in the gaps in his joints.

The room flickered like a movie reel with a frame missing.

Liam lowered his chin, his eyes narrowing at Kelly as if he detected a shift in the atmosphere. “Careful, love.”

_I told you_ , Kelly hissed through his teeth. The pressure crawled up his throat, searing his tongue with venom and rumbling out of his lips in a low growl. “Don’t call me that.”

Liam’s lips parted in surprise.

Kelly’s fist connected with Liam’s jaw, and the creature who called himself _Death_ fell to the checkered floor.

==

Nick thrashed and pulled himself out of Ty’s grip. “Why did you do that?”

Ty backed away with his palms up, eyes wide. “You don’t want to make a deal with a demon, dude. Come on, _think_. You could have Kelly, yeah, but for how long and at what price?”

Nick tried to breathe, shoving his hands through his hair and pacing away. “What do I do?”

“I don’t…I don’t know,” Ty answered quietly.

A rumbling from upstairs jerked their attention to the ceiling.

“Was that thunder?” Ty asked.

“Kelly,” Nick gasped and ran for the stairs.

“Irish!” Ty yelled after him.

Nick took the stairs two at a time, his hand scraping over a rough patch on the bannister that he’d been meaning to sand. He hissed in pain but didn’t stop until he shouldered through the door to the checkered dance room.

Kelly stood over the prone form of Liam splayed out on the floor. His fists were balled at his sides and he glared at Death with a murderous curl of his lip. The room crackled with energy that made Nick’s hair stand on end and his joints buzz.

“Kelly?” Nick whispered.

Kelly’s head snapped up, his eyes wide and shocked. “Nick,” he gasped in a hoarse voice.

Nick froze as Kelly’s voice washed over him. “Your voice….what did you do?”

“I hit him,” Kelly said. “He wouldn’t stop talking and I got so mad and…I just…” He stared at his hands, uncurling the fists and holding his palms up. “I felt weird, like something was crawling through me and over me and burning me up from the inside out. It went away when I hit him.”

Nick swallowed, everything in him screaming to grab Kelly and drag him into his arms but he was _terrified_ that his hand would go right through him again. He didn’t dare hope.

Kelly looked at him, his eyes shining and something between shock and relief on his face. “I’m back.”

Nick held out a trembling hand and took a shuddering breath. A choked noise rolled out of his throat when the firm pressure of Kelly’s hand slid over his. He curled his fingers around Kelly’s and pulled, sliding his other hand around the back of Kelly’s head to hold him in place while he kissed him. Kelly groaned and wrapped his free hand around Nick’s waist and yanked on his t-shirt as if that would pull him closer.

It was a kiss borne out of longing and hope and relief and the very real fear that it could all be taken away again at any moment. Nick bit at Kelly’s lips, his brain only just now registering through the fog that there was more than merely pressure there. There was warmth. There was taste. There was the slight hint of copper.

Kelly was _warm_ in his arms.

“You’re here,” Nick said against his mouth.

“I am,” Kelly said in a rushed tone.

“No, Kels…” Nick pulled away as much as he wanted to pin Kelly to the nearest wall. “Look.” He put a hand over Kelly’s chest, a small sound of surprise falling out at the heavy _thump thump_ under his palm.

Kelly trembled as realization seeped into his eyes. “How…?”

Nick shook his head. “I don’t know. Did he say anything about this? Before you hit him.”

Kelly frowned as he ran his hands over Nick’s chest and his arms and back up to his neck as if he needed to map every inch of Nick’s body. “I don’t…know. I don’t think so.”

“It was a test,” Ty said from the doorway. “He was testing your resolve to get back to Nick. Clearly you passed.”

Nick frowned at Ty. “Why?”

Ty shrugged. “He’s fucking Death. Probably doesn’t need a reason. Bored. Wanted to fuck with you.”

“What happens when he wakes up?” Kelly asked. He pressed his face to Nick’s chest and inhaled deeply then pushed his nose against Nick’s throat.

“I don’t know but I don’t want to be around when he does,” Ty said.

Nick looked at the heavy old doors leading out of the checkered dance room. “One last test,” he murmured.

Kelly looked at the doors, not moving out of Nick’s arms. “You could just turn this room into a loft. Put a bed in the corner.”

Nick laughed softly and kissed his temple. “Come on. You didn’t come this far to stop at the end.”

“What if it doesn’t work?” Kelly looked up at him with very real concern in his mesmerizing eyes.

Nick kissed him softly and thoroughly. Loved him with his lips. Swallowed Kelly’s fear and his own name as Kelly kissed it to his mouth in return. He pulled Kelly to him and walked backward, still kissing him slowly and sweetly. Kelly whimpered against his lips, tightening his hold as they neared the threshold.

Nick’s boot thumped against the worn wood of the hallway. He took another step back and dragged the warmth and life of Kelly with him and out of the room. Kelly stiffened and jerked away with a gasp, his eyes wide.

Nick’s heart jumped into his throat. “Kels?”

“I’m still here,” Kelly said quickly. “Right?”

Nick smiled. “Right.”

“Look,” Ty said suddenly.

Kelly turned in Nick’s arms, keeping them around him as he pressed his back to Nick’s chest. In the room with the checkered dance floor, Liam was pushing himself unsteadily to his feet. He glared at them and opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Kelly made a surprised sound. “What…?”

“I think we need to declare this room off-limits,” Nick said as he kissed Kelly’s hair. “Board it up permanently. Maybe even close off the wall entirely so people forget it’s even here.”

Ty nodded seriously as they watched Liam wordlessly scream at them, his coloring washed out and pale. “I’m sure I can convince Ma it’s a good idea.” He closed the heavy old door and used Nick’s heavy ring of keys to lock it for the first time in decades.

Kelly turned around again to face Nick. “I’m really here?”

Nick ran his thumb over Kelly’s cheekbone, staring at those changeable eyes that only seemed more brilliant in full color. “Really.”

“I’m scared this will end again,” Kelly whispered in a shaky voice.

Nick licked his lips and nodded. “Me too. So how about we make the best of it?”

Kelly smiled, fear whispering around the edges of his eyes but a new resolve seeping into them. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Kels.”


End file.
